I understand what Quinn Hillyer is trying to do, and I sympathize, but I highly doubt it would work out. For the life of me, I don’t see any of the people he mentions doing anything. Even if they did, I really don’t think it would work as well as he seems to think it will. Favorite son candidacies are a thing of the past, just as brokered conventions are. In my opinion, this is a good thing, as this means no proverbial “smoke-filled room” sweetheart deals. As interesting and newsworthy as they may be, I don’t see it happening or being a net benefit for the Party.

I don’t have much of a grudge against McCain, and I don’t hold contempt for him like some others on the right do. Maybe it is merely a function of my youth, I really do not know. In my mind, he has basically won the nomination fair and square.

I made a New Year’s pldege to go to the wall for any Republican nominee. I intend to carry that out.

This week’s edition of my favorite Pittsburgh newspaper has extensive coverage of the March for Life. Here’s a much better photo of Bishop David Zubik than the one I posted earlier. Click for a larger version:

This theocon’s thoughts on the current state of the presidential election:

-With Rudy Giuliani gone, there are no more pro-aborts running on the Republican side. The danger of a pro-abortion Republican being elected president is gone.

-With John Edwards gone, we no longer have to listen to his nonsense. There are only two Democrat presidential candidates left to speak their pro-abortion socialistic crap.

-The current Republican front-runner, John McCain, is hated by many conservatives. I don’t like him very much myself. However, he fits my three requirements for a candidate in that he (1) is pro-life, (2) is a judicial originalist and (3) will fight Islamic fascism. Because he fits my requirements, I will have absolutely no problem voting for him if he wins the nomination.

-Only Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remain on the Democrat side. I would consider the election of either of them to be a disaster. However I would much rather Hillary get the nomination, since I think she isn’t so much a true believer in far-leftism as she is just a power hungry megalomaniac. Obama seems to really believe all of the far-left stupidity that comes out of his mouth. Furthermore, Obama is far more charismatic than Hillary, and would probably get a lot of young people out to vote for him who would normally stay home on election day. So I support Clinton because Clinton isn’t as far-left and because she would be easier to defeat in the general election.

-After he comes in last in every state in the upcoming “Super Tuesday”, Ron Paul should do us a favor and finally drop out of the race. The real contest is between McCain, Romney, and Huckabee. Paul is never going to get the nomination, and he should stop pretending that he has a chance.

-An interesting point to ponder: Liberals hate George W. Bush for three main reasons; His pro-life stance, the war in Iraq, and his tax cuts. Liberals claim to love John McCain. John McCain, who is pro-life, in favor of the war in Iraq, and in favor of tax cuts. Hmm! How could that be? They can’t really denounce Bush as an evil woman-hating warmongering economic idiot without making the same claims about McCain, and yet they do! Could it be that liberals are full of it?

Republican rules, however, require all candidates for delegate to officially run “uncommitted,” even if the delegate candidate supports a particular Presidential candidate. Thus, in the voting booth, Republican primary voters have no way of knowing which delegate candidates support which presidential candidate unless they have researched that matter before closing the curtain.

This creates unusual and often uncontrollable dynamics. For example, in 1980 George H.W. Bush won the Pennsylvania Presidential “beauty contest,” but superior grassroots work by the Reagan campaign delivered most of the state’s delegates to Reagan.

Good news for water cooler blogger Jeff Moyer who told me he wouldn’t run for delegate because Fred dropped out. You have until Feb 12th Jeff!!!

Add in the wild card fact that delegate seats to the national conventions are often won by party activists and elected officials who have name identification and organizations they can count on to get elected. Many who win delegate seats will be truly uncommitted because they are people who routinely go to conventions, but who may not feel strongly about a particular candidate.

And so Pennsylvania’s primary is largely being won or lost by the delegate recruitment and petition signing currently underway. If the GOP approaches the September convention with the outcome in doubt, the Keystone state with its large number of technically uncommitted delegates could in fact be the key to winning the nomination.

Quin Hillyer proposes a new, old strategy, for derailing Senator McCain’s “inside strait” march to the Republican presidential nomination:

The way to force an open convention is for conservative candidates to amass delegates pledged to themselves rather than to McCain or Huckabee. And the way to do that is by reviving the old stratagem of the “favorite son” candidacy. Rather than having a candidate try to run nationally, a candidate can compete just in his own home state. Win the state, or at least a majority of the delegates thereof, and you go to the convention with some bargaining power.

The filing deadlines for presidential primaries or caucuses in seven states, boasting 285 convention delegates, occur after Super Tuesday. Mega-state Pennsylvania, with 74 delegates, allows candidates to qualify up until Feb. 12. The filing deadline in South Dakota isn’t until March 25. If favorite sons run and win in all those states, and if Mitt Romney continues to fight McCain and Huckabee throughout the primary season, then the favorites sons could, collectively, hold the balance of power at an open convention.

IN RECENT WEEKS, Pennsylvania’s former Sen. Santorum has gone on a tear in criticizing his former colleague McCain. He has been saying that behind closed doors in the Senate, McCain consistently fights against even allowing floor consideration for conservative issue after conservative issue. Well, here is Santorum’s chance to block McCain: Qualify for the presidential primary in Pennsylvania, fight a hard campaign, and win it.